PG&E power shutoff: Crews inspect, repair lines in Mariposa Co., power restored to more than half of customers

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Lights are slowly turning back on in Mariposa County following the PG&E power shutdown.

Crews of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company started to inspect and repair any damaged lines in the county on Thursday.

The company announced late Thursday that it has restored power to more than 50% of customers affected by its power shutoffs in California - including some in Mariposa County.

About 1,800 customers have been affected by the shutoffs in the county. It is not clear how many of them have had their power restored.

Here is a list of the areas that were affected:

Greeley Hill

Lake Don Pedro Subdivision area

Granite Springs Rd Area

Lake Mc Clure

Merced Falls Rd Area

Lake Mc Swain

The affected areas are shown in PINK on the map. Also, the map shows the current Briceburg Fire evacuations and advisories.

The shutoffs are a part of a statewide plan by the company affecting 800,000 customers across California, based on forecasts of dry, hot and windy weather including potential fire risk.

PG&E said about 426,000 out of a total 738,000 customers have had their power restored, including full restoration in Humboldt, Siskiyou and Trinity counties. About 312,000 customers remain without power, it said.

The Mariposa County Unified School District said the Lake Don Pedro, Greeley Hill Elementary and Coulterville High Schools, which had been closed for the last two days, would resume their regular schedules on Friday.

PG&E says phase 2 is complete and if customers have not lost power by now, they will not lose it.

Governor Gavin Newsom held a press conference Thursday evening saying that there needs to be a "radical" change to prevent future issues with shutoffs.

Where to go for help

PG&E has opened a Community Resource Center in Coulterville. It says the center will remain open during daylight hours only and will have restrooms, bottled water, electronic-device charging, and air-conditioned seating.The center is located at 10293 Ferry Road, Coulterville, CA 95311.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office is staffing its two substations in Greeley Hill and LaGrange around the clock right now.

Crews of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company have started to inspect and repair any damaged lines in Mariposa County.

People whose phones may not be working during the outage can go there if necessary so deputies or volunteers can radio for help.

Frustrated residents question need for outage

Many residents said they're doing their best to keep gas in their generators and keep their food cold, but they're getting more frustrated with every hour that passes.

Many are questioning why they're dealing with this emergency.

"We haven't even had winds stronger than 17 miles an hour up here and we were shut down. We've had winds where it take roofs off of buildings and we still had power, so this seems to be a little extreme," said Diane Albert of Lake Don Pedro.